OUR HISTORY
ORIGIN
The Sacramento Turn Verein Soccer Club originated as a dream of its founder, Freddie Grosklos. In 1957 he formulated the plan to start a soccer club. Initial steps were taken in a meeting held in Fred's bedroom at his parent's home. Because the Central California Soccer League (CCSL)1957-58 season was already in progress the club played "friendly" games for the remainder of the season. It formally entered league play in 1958-59 season as the First Soccer Club of Sacramento. During the early days Freddie Grosklos and Leo Drescher managed the affairs of the club and "headquarters" was usually Scheidel's on Fulton Avenue with Gus Scheidel an avid booster. Players included Herb Hoffman, Werner Kroenke, Leo Drescher, Fred Grosklos, Franz Edelmayer, Horst Gumnor, Jack Fimple, Franz Rexhausen, Al Geiger, Vasily Lokteff, and Mario DaRosa. Soon thereafter the club formed a second team and with a growing membership it was looking for a permanent home. Using the Turn Verein gymnasium for practice, it was a natural progression to join that organization. With Ferdinand Morant and Otto Grosklos doing the negotiating, the First Soccer Club was made the third section of the Sacramento Turn Verein, joining the Active gymnasts and the Harmonie Choral Group. On January 6, 1960, 21 members of the soccer club were admitted into membership of the Sacramento Turn Verein. The officers of the Turn Verein Soccer Club were Ferdinand Morant, President; Willi Gumnor, Vice President; Leo Drescher, Treasurer; Franz Edelmayer, Coach; and Fred Grosklos, Manager. With both teams participating in the one division of the CCSL there developed a strong rivalry between the two teams. The Turn Verein A team were often frustrated from winning any league championship in the early years because they would invariably drop precious league points to the Turn Verein B team.
First team picture taken in late Fall 1957 at old Southside Park. Players signed the club charter at Fred Glosklos home and agreed to pay annual dues of $24 to play for the unsponsored team.
Left to right: Herb Hoffmann (goal), Fred Glosklos, Leo Dresher, Erwin Zacharias, Gottfried Bienert, Horst Gumnor, Dary "Cookie" Cook, Mario DaRosa, Vasily Lokteff, Joe Losemandi and Mlykos "Nick" Talyar.
1960's
Among the early successes was passage through to the semi-final of the California Soccer Association North (CSAN) Intermediate Cup during the 1960-61 season. The first championship came to the club in March 1962, when the Turn Verein A team beat rivals Jalisco 2-0 in the Final of the City Cup. The two goals were scored by center forward Vasily Lokteff in a game played in freezing temperatures at Southside Park. The team included Juergen Hilmar, Leo Drescher, Mario DaRosa, Norbert Duester, Vic Warmerdam, George Lotkteff, Erich Krieger, John DeGroot, Mike Zupan and Frank Dale. Following the initial success in the City Cup, the Turn Verein repeated as champions with a 3-0 win again over Jalisco in 1963. Again in 1964 Turn Verein won the City Cup with a 3-1 victory over Jalisco. However, 1963-64 brought double success as the Turn Verein wonits first CCSL League Championship to go with its cup triumph. That team was managed by Gert Samelin and coached by Ferdinand Morant. The players were Vasily Lokteff, Captain; Matt Anderson, Franz Brocker, Frank Dale, Norbert Duester, Franz Edelmayer, John DeGroot, Hugo Hess, Juergen Jilmer, Ervin Horning, Horst Klee, Erich Krieger, George Lokteff, Mario DaRosa, Vic Warmerdam and Mike Zupan. The Turn Verein Soccer Club has fast built a reputation as a "Cup Team". It repeated as City Cup Champions in 1966 after a second place finish in the CCSL League Championship. Arroyos of Stockton had gone through the season undefeated to win the league (2 ties with Turn Verein both by scores of 2-2) and the CSAN Intermediate Cup. After 30 games without a loss, Arroyos felt confident in the Final of the City Cup fully expecting to win. Turn Verein extracted its revenge, beating Arroyos 5-0. In the 1967-68 season the Turn Verein registered its second League Championship. The season ended with the Turn Verein needing two wins on the road in Stockton on consecutive weekends. As the time Arroyos and new rival Xochimilco were two of the stronger teams in the area, both with a chance to win the league. Both fell victim to the Turn Verein title chase, Arroyos beaten 4-2 and Xochimilco 3-1. In addition to Zupan, Krieger, Edelmayer, Brocker, Lokteff, DaRosa and Dale, other newer additions were Alan and Bill Dalton, Tony Rosales and Ben Hoff. In 1969 Turn Verein won the Intermediate Cup of the CSAN. Enroute besides easy wins over Hellas (9-0), and Palo Alto Harmonie (11-2), Turn Verein defeated San Francisco Sons of Italy 3-0 after an earlier 2-2 draw in San Francisco. A 5-1 victory in the semi-final over Concordia's A Team put Turn Verein in the final against the Vikings. Turn Verein prevailed over the Vikings 1-0 with an overtime goal by Tony Rosales. The following season saw Turn Verein testing the water in the CSAN Open Cup. A semi-final loss to Guadalajara 4-3 in overtime ended a promising run. One of the more notable wins during that competition was a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Grenadiers at California Junior High School
1970's
During the 1970's the club struggled for success on the field. During a period of rapid expansion by CCSL, the Turn Verein found itself playing the lower divisions of the league despite being one of the soundest organizations in the Sacramento area. Starting in 1971 the club has fielded an "Old Timers Team" which have participated in tournaments statewide.
1980's
In 1980 the club was chosen to play in the Miller High Life Major Division, the top local soccer league after an absence of some years. That inaugural season in the top flight started shakily with four losses in a row. However, the team included Ian Filby, a proven goal scorer in any caliber of competition, and Dean Wurzberger, the first local high school player selected in the North American Soccer League (NASL) draft. Those early losses included some high scoring affairs, 6-5 to Tepeyac and 5-4 to Reno. Eventually the team settled down to finish in fourth place in the ten-team league and justify the venture back into the higher echelons of local soccer. Needless to say Ian Filby captured the scoring title with an opening burst of 12 goals in his first four games with the club. The 1981-82 season came with but one goal in mind, to unseat the Celtics as Major League champions. The team was strengthened by the addition of Jeff Wollrabe, goalkeeper Jim Burke, and two strange talking "English" fellows Paul Davies and Nick Johnson, aka Parker. Additionally, Marvin Fernandez and Dave Presher from Cruz Azul, Mark Ray and Nick Nizzoli got the club off to an early lead. The addition of college players, Mike Bowling from California State University Sacramento (CSUS), and Keith Stewart, Robert Lang, and John Carlson from Chico State in mid season ensured the title would be ours. By that time STVSC was undefeated and had a comfortable points margin. Another bonus player arrived in the spring to add to the British flavor in the club, Dave Novis soon made his presence felt with 2 goals in a 4-0 win over perennial powerhouse Mexcala in the State Cup. With a third League title won, the club feel short in the CSAN State Cup losing to San Francisco Italian Athletic Club (SFIAC) in the semi-final. The club added the President's Cup to League honors with a 3-2 win over Dixon in the final. Added interest in the club forced a revival of the second team missing since the 1960's. In 1983 the A team relinquish its league title despite only two losses in 18 games, a duplication of the previous season's championship record. Jalisco captured the League title, but the Turn Verein's Cup fighting tradition found us achieving a new type of double - both the A and B teams won their respective City Cup Championships. The A team gained its revenge over Jalisco defeating it in the Cup semi-final and went on to beat another rival Celtics 5-0 in the final. The B team won its final on penalties after a 2-2 draw through 30 minutes of overtime against the Polish American Club. Ed Monterrubio's team included Harry Krieger, Pete Anthoney, Brad Carson, Roger Pruett, Thomas Friedrich, Dave Naylor, Bassil Kamas, Milan Domanovich, Danny Landerberger, Jerry Lyerly, Brian DiGracia and Jerry Mastrietti. On September 4, 1983 the 25th anniversary of the club was celebrated in grand fashion with a soccer tournament and social event.
